The Stamford conference is almost upon us and an especially exciting program is planned.  We are all going to learn a great deal about the new war plans of the U.S. and NATO and find many new allies and resources for the struggle for peace, civil liberties, and economic equality ahead.
Action Proposal
 I would like to remind all of you that one of your charges as a conference participant will be to discuss, amend, and vote upon the Action Plan, which can be found at http://nepajac.org/actionprop.htm.  Additional amendments and resolutions are also posted there to review in advance.  Please take some time to prepare for this important political discussion about the road forward. 
Volunteers 
In order to carry off a conference like this smoothly, the voluntary work of many conference attendees is required.  We still need a lot of activists to help at the registration tables, with badge checking, with transportation to the limited mass housing that we have just been able to secure.  Just an hour or two of your time over the three days of the conference will make a tremendous difference to the functioning of the conference.  If you can volunteer for one or two hours, please immediately email me at cmgauvreau@me.com.

Late Registrations
Please tell your friends and fellow activists who have not yet registered that in order to guarantee that they receive the hotel meals that are the occasion for the Saturday lunch and dinner plenary panels, we need their registrations by Tuesday night, March 20, at 8 pm.  We have to give a final meal count to the hotel on Wednesday morning.  We will be ordering some extra meals but cannot guarantee that there will be enough for those registering later in the week or at the door.  We will allow attendees to sit in those sessions but you may have to bring a bag lunch and dinner.

Housing 
We know that there have been issues stemming from the fact that the hotel room rates have fallen since we signed our contract.  Our dedicated room reservation page was not updated in a timely way despite our best efforts.  The hotel has assured us that conference participants will be credited for the current market rate as they define it.  We are negotiating exactly what that will be, but it will not be more than $99 a night.
After a long effort and many failures, we have just secured some limited floor space for sleeping bags in a Unitarian Church. We will make this available to the neediest participants.  We have not yet resolved all the transportation issues involved here but hope to get volunteers to ferry those to and from this site.  If you know of someone who might still be able to attend the conference if they had this housing option, please email me immediately at cmgauvreau@me.com.

Transportation Issues
By train:
To those of you who will be taking the MetroNorth commuter line from Grand Central Station or from 125th/Harlem, please note that Stamford Station is about 35 minutes east of the Harlem stop.  When you exit the station at the side where cars can pick up passengers, you will be just about two long blocks from the hotel.  It can be walked in less than 10 minutes. BUT DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS WALKING DIRECTIONS TO GET TO THE HOTEL.  THEY ARE WRONG AND WILL TAKE YOU OUT OF YOUR WAY!  You can actually see the hotel/office complex called One Stamford Place from the train platform and you can walk directly there in a straight line along the train bridge on the sidewalk.  Once you arrive at One Stamford Place, you walk into the complex until you see the Hilton.

By Plane:
If you are flying into JFK or LaGuardia, you have two choices.  If you are arriving early and plan to go directly into the city by public transportation, you will just take the MetroNorth commuter line to Stamford in order to arrive for registration before the 8 pm opening plenary Friday night.  If you want to take a shuttle directly to the Stamford Hilton, you must make a reservation with Red Dot or Prime Time.  These shuttles are pricey and I am happy to try to coordinate to try to make up a conference group that could get a reduced rate at either airport.  If you are arriving at JFK or LaGuardia and want to see if you are coming in at a time that would allow you to negotiate a group rate with other conference participants, email me asap at cmgauvreau@me.com.  Those arriving at Westchester need to get a cab to the hotel. Once again, though, if you send me your arrival times at the regional airport, I can see if there are others who could share a cab.
By car:
The hotel parking rate is $5 per day only or $10 including overnight.  Total for the conference will be $20.
We look forward to sharing and planning with you and your group.  No to the NATO/G8 Wars and Poverty Agenda!  No War on Iran!  U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now!

In solidarity,
Chris Gauvreau